


Curtain Call

by foxfireflamequeen



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2013-07-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 06:20:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxfireflamequeen/pseuds/foxfireflamequeen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>“You taste sad.”</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Curtain Call

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by _Sleeping with the Telephone_ , Reba McEntire & Faith Hill.

**xxx**

_“Again?”_

_“Again.”_

_“That’s five nights in a row.”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“I **hate** this city.”_

_“…”_

_“…I didn’t mean that.”_

_“I know.”_

_“Just… be safe, okay?”_

_“I love you.”_

**xxx**

_At least it’s better than Gotham_ , some days he tried to reassure himself. _At least there’s no Two-Face or Black Mask or Joker._

_At least there are other people watching his back._

But those ‘other people’ weren’t Batman and Two-Face was just replaced by Blockbuster because Dick wasn’t just Officer Grayson, he was Nightwing too. And no matter the circumstance, ‘Officer Grayson’ wasn’t allowed to somersault out of the way or flip over the edge of a building and shoot off his grapple. ‘Officer Grayson’ wasn’t allowed to _fly_ and if Dick wasn’t in the air, then he wasn’t at his best.

In their line of work— _his; **his**_ line of work—if they weren’t at their best…

Well.

No point in thinking about it now when they’d known it all their lives.

For some reason, though, it was different when Dick was Nightwing. Nightwing seemed… more _capable_ , somehow. Nightwing had the entire _League_ on hand for assistance if he needed. He leapt from buildings and drove his bike in the most reckless manner, but _Nightwing_ could handle it.

Officer Grayson didn’t drive his standard-issue police car any less recklessly or skillfully, and Nightwing was always under Officer Grayson’s pressed white shirt, but while the Bat— _bird_ —lurked in the shadows, the cop— _both heroes, though_ —stood in plain sight.

Maybe that was problem, Wally decided. Maybe that’s what made this cop gig worse. It was the difference in visibility, in _exposure_. Officer Grayson meant that Dick was in danger twenty-four seven instead of only at night.

It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that the Flash was allowed to help Nightwing, but not Officer Grayson.

**xxx**

_“You can’t keep this up, bro. Take the day off. Call in sick.”_

_“We have a new lead, KF. I can’t sit back and let this one pass us by. We’ve almost got this guy.”_

_“They can go one day without you. I’ll take the day off too. We’ll sit back and watch a movie together. It’s been ages since I’ve had you all to myself.”_

_“Tempting as the offer is, babe, they need me. You know this case will crack faster if Amy lets me handle it. Which she will.”_

_“You’re not a detective, Dick. Not yet. You don’t have to do this extra work. You’re running yourself ragged.”_

_“I can solve this before anyone else. Every second saved is a person’s life spared. I’m **sorry** , Walls, but when this is done I’ll take a break, I promise.”_

_“You have patrol tonight, too. **Both** kinds of patrol.”_

_“It’s cute how you can keep up with my schedule but not your own.”_

_“Ha ha. Laugh it up, Grayson. When you get back I expect compensation.”_

_“I’ll even let you use the cuffs~ but seriously, I have to go.”_

_“I don’t want Officer Grayson tonight. Can I just have Dick instead?”_

_“You always have me. You know that.”_

_“Yeah. I’m a lucky guy. Watch yourself out there.”_

_“…Love you, Wally.”_

**xxx**

There was a nightlight in their room, soft and blue, that was only used on nights like this. Not a night where Dick had the graveyard shift—Wally secretly prayed for nights like those because they meant no Nightwing and his boyfriend getting some rest during the day (shut up, he didn’t just enjoy waking up before the younger man and watching him sleep for a whole hour; that’s creepy)—but one where his phone went off at two a.m. in the morning and it was Amy Rohrbach on the other end instead of Oracle, and Wally scrambled awake fifteen minutes later to a cold bed and the pseudo feeling of cool lips against his forehead.

He berated himself for sleeping like a fucking _log_ sometimes.

_Like now._

He wished he could wake up in time to watch Dick hop around tugging on his pants and grin at the German curse as his boyfriend buttoned his shirt wrong and left and rushed back in to grab his forgotten hat.

_Or to see him smile and kiss my lips—_

But Rob— _funny how our names stuck_ —was already gone, the dim glow of the small bulb illuminating the room and making the shadows dance.

Wally used to hate nightlights when he was a kid. They cast an eerie glow over the room and black shadows were so much better than angry red shadows, and the green ones were fifty times worse. That’s the color everything was supposed to be if and only if there was an alien abduction afoot.

It was just _logical_.

Blue was different, though. His parents had never thought to buy him a blue one after he rejected red and green and purple.

(It was odd that they’d bought him three different kinds as it was.)

Blue was calm.

Blue was beautiful.

Blue didn’t make the dark masses tremble and grow into monsters.

Blue only made the shadows seem _alive_.

(Wally could swear that objects changed their minds about being _inanimate_ whenever Dick was involved.)

Alone in a bed for two— _shouldn’t have insisted on a king; it’s way too big_ —rolling over to the wrong side of the bed— _next to the window_ —Wally could totally appreciate the life.

The sirens wailed outside their apartment the way they did every other hour, and every now and then Wally liked hearing them, knowing Dick was out there keeping his city safe.

Then there were nights like this, when they just gave him chills.

Wally liked the blue light.

Blue made everything seem less—

(Dead.)

— _and hear him tell me he loves me the way I know he did._

**xxx**

_“Was that your boss?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“It’s your day off.”_

_“I know.”_

_“You **promised**.”_

_“I know.”_

_“Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick~”_

_“You’re not gonna let me finish, are you?”_

_“Hell no. As punishment, you can live with blue balls for the rest of the week.”_

_“I meant finish talking.”_

_“No way. You’ll end up charming me out of it.”_

_“I’m not going.”_

_“Shut up, Grayson, I’m mad at y—wait, what?”_

_“Robin and Red Robin are taking the streets and BPD can manage a day without me. I also have two tickets to the final Knicks game.”_

_“…I knew there was a reason I loved you.”_

_“Now what were you saying about blue balls?”_

_“We are so using the cuffs tonight!”_

_“Mh, it’s been a while since I saw you trying to vibrate your way out of those.”_

_“It’s been a while since we’ve gone a whole day without someone shooting at you.”_

_“Love you too, Freshness.”_

**xxx**

Dick’s brow was lined with sweat. A drop landed on Wally’s cheek and the younger man lapped it up, a small break between expletives and prayers, language switching from French to Spanish to Romani to— _was that Japanese or Chinese?_ —with every deep, slow thrust and Wally relished the agony of patience, let time slow down so he could take in the way his boyfriend’s abs contracted, rippled in a perfect wave from his chest to his stomach as his hips pushed in, how long fingers periodically tightened and loosened on the freckled knee slung over a broad shoulder, how Dick’s eyes fluttered over his lover, never settling on anything, watching Wally the way the redhead was watching him.

There were no interruptions.

The phone didn’t ring.

Flash’s ring was halfway across the room—not that that mattered for a speedster—and Dick’s utility belt was probably under the bed.

More importantly, Officer Grayson’s radio was turned off.

(Dick might have thrown it out the window, actually; Wally couldn’t remember.)

His hands clawed at Dick’s back, tried to draw him in for a kiss but Dick pulled away at the last second, smirking at Wally’s whine and leaning lower instead to teeth at a brown nipple, arms wrapping around his best friend and drawing him closer, trapping the speedster’s neglected erection between their bodies and forcing his hips to a standstill.

“Oh my g-god, Rob.” Wally knew only one third of the number of languages Dick did, and he rarely used anything besides English, but Dick seemed to find his use of one just as hot as Wally found the former Boy Wonder’s use of nine. “D-Dick, _please_.”

The kiss seared as the pace picked up, and when Wally finally shot off against both their chests there was only one prayer on his lips.

“RobWingDickIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou.”

**xxx**

_“Don’t go.”_

_“I’m not going anywhere, babe.”_

_“Where’s my—where’s my radio?”_

_“It’s right next to you. It’s turned off. You can’t work today.”_

_“But what if they need me? What if **you** need me?”_

_“I’m not going anywhere, remember? And I called in sick for you. No one will need you today.”_

_“You have pretty eyes.”_

_“Haha. Yeah, you tell me that a lot.”_

_“Not enough. I should tell you more.”_

_“I wouldn’t mind. You have beautiful eyes too.”_

_“Yours are nicer.”_

_“I’m not going to argue with you when you’re delusional. Okay, c’mon, let me fix your pillow. I got your head, you just need to let me raise… there we go. That’s better, isn’t it?”_

_“Can I have a kiss?”_

_“You can have anything you want—oh hey, don’t move around so much. Don’t whine, you shouldn’t have gotten shot in the first place.”_

_“Why don’t you ever tell me you love me before I go out to answer a call?”_

_“…”_

_“‘Too hot…”_

_“You have a fever. Once the pill kicks in I can give you a sponge bath, and you’ll feel better.”_

_“Telling me you love me won’t change whether or not I die, you know.”_

_“Yeah, I know. It’s just that. It sounds so… **final**.”_

_“‘S okay. You loved Robin and Richard. You love Dick and Nightwing. You don’t have to love Officer Grayson too.”_

_“No, that’s not it—”_

_“Your hair looks so soft. I wanna touch it.”_

_“I—pffhaha. You can touch it while I steal another kiss.”_

_“You taste sad.”_

_“You’re hurt, Dick. Of course I’m sad.”_

_“I don’t like seeing you sad.”_

_“I don’t want you to die.”_

_“I love you a lot and a lot and a lot and a lot and a lot. Times infinity.”_

**xxx**

It wasn’t that he didn’t love Officer Grayson as much as Dick or Nightwing, Wally mused, it was just that Officer Grayson made himself so much _harder_ to love. If he was on the news running children out of burning buildings, the Flash couldn’t show up to help. In Bludhaven, that was Nightwing’s job, and Nightwing was already there, if hidden away behind a tucked in shirt that was coming loose and a pair of uniform pants that stored his mask.

He supposed that exchanging a set of ‘I love you’s before heading off to work was normal. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen Barry and Iris exchange kisses and whispers before Barry raced off in his car instead of on his feet, and it wasn’t even as though Dick and Wally didn’t have their own nauseating—Artemis’ words, not theirs—morning ritual.

Routine, everyday work. For some reason, that was okay.

Emergency calls weren’t.

Even though bad things could happen on a regular day for Officer Grayson.

At one point, Wally just stopped thinking about it.

There were no answers. There was no way he was making it final.

He’d tried saying it a few times at the beginning, when Dick’s eyes would dim in disappointment as his proclamations were only met with a silent kiss, but he never made it past ‘I lo—’ before the words changed in his ears.

And turned into ‘goodbye’.

**xxx**

_“Happy Anniversary.”_

_“You’re gonna stand me up aren’t you.”_

_“Nope. I’ll be late but let me just change out of this shir—”_

_“I don’t care about the shirt. Get over here, now.”_

_“Hah, I’d love to, bro, but I don’t think they’d let me in with blood on my uniform.”_

_“Jesus, are you—”_

_“I’m fine. The knife barely grazed me.”_

_“I’ll be there in—”_

_“No, you won’t. I want to have dinner with you on our anniversary, I want to walk in and see you sitting there looking peeved with your glass of wine that has the same effect on you as the previous four glasses— **zero** —and I want to walk out holding your hand and then I want you to run us to our favorite place in the whole world so I can make love to you all night long. I’m **fine** and I’m **coming** so please wait for me.”_

_“I’ll always wait for you.”_

_“And you call me a sap.”_

_“Shut up. I was trying to be romantic.”_

_“I can see you blushing all the way from here.”_

_“You’re a dick.”_

_“Love you too.”_

**xxx**

Wally woke up in the Watchtower medbay to find a pair of blue eyes— _wrong blue_ —staring at him intently. Diana and J’onn monitored him for twenty-four hours, despite his protests that having hyper-accelerated healing made him eligible for early release.

As punishment for trying to sneak out, Shayera held him in for an extra three hours.

An eternity to a speedster.

When Wally finally made it back home at five a.m. in the morning, he found Dick waiting for him with homemade pizza that had gone cold, wide awake and smiling.

“They don’t get the _point_ of accelerated healing,” Wally whined as he chugged a can of Coke. Dick only laughed.

“Miss me?” the redhead purred later, worshipping his boyfriend’s sculpted abs with his lips, too worn and comfortable to actually take it further than a few innuendoes and kisses.

“Mhm,” Dick hummed back, arms tightening around him every-so-slightly, and suddenly Wally became aware of the extra comforter on the bed, remembered the untouched slice of pizza on Nightwing’s plate, raised his head to take in the dark bags under hooded blue— _right blue perfect blue_ —eyes.

“Did you…?” The questions trailed off, because Wally knew the answers. No, he didn’t sleep. No, he didn’t eat. Yes, he patrolled all night and took a few extra shifts even though he was already overworked.

“I saw you explode on TV, yeah.” Dick looked at him, apologetic and guilty and Wally didn’t know why. It wasn’t like this was the first time. They were heroes. These things happened. Dick couldn’t do this to himself every time, but he did anyway and Wally couldn’t stop it. “I wanted to help, but you know the deal.”

Nightwing wasn’t a member of the League. Until he was authorized, he couldn’t even use the zeta tubes to travel. He wasn’t allowed to interfere in League missions.

Flash couldn’t run to Officer Grayson, but at least Nightwing’s alerts reached the League.

If Flash called for help, Nightwing wouldn’t even know.

All he could do was wait and hope.

Dick’s fingers lingered on Wally’s broken leg, lips turned down in a frown.

So Wally reached to kiss away.

**xxx**

_“Fuck, Dick, **faster**.”_

_“Aw. Too—ha—too slow for ya?”_

_“Grayson, I swear if you keep teasing— **shit** —D-Dick!”_

_“J-Jesus, **Wally** , I love y—oh my God **keepdoingthat**.”_

**xxx**

He jerked out of sleep, automatically reaching for a person he should have remembered had left an hour ago, responding to a red alert that went off far too often nowadays. Wally trembled alone, pupils blown with terror as his eyes landed on the phone lying still on the bedside table.

It was going to ring.

He _knew_ it.

Just like in his dream— _nightmare_ —and it would be Amy on the other end, voice soft and soothing like the day she’d come to dinner with them and Dick had left for a few minutes to ask Teddy next door to please turn down his music. Wally tried to joke away the fact that _she_ got to see more of his boyfriend than he did, but Amy understood.

This time, though, Wally knew her words wouldn’t bring comfort.

_“We lost him, Wally.”_

The phone didn’t ring.

Dick came home.

And Wally clutched him close and tried so very hard not to think about a night when he didn’t.

**xxx**

_“Mh… Dick?”_

_“Shh, KF. Go back to sleep. I’ll be back before you wake up.”_

_“D’you have to gooooo?”_

_“‘Fraid so, babe.”_

_“Can’t Nightwing go instead?”_

_“It’s my turn on the roster, dude. Has to be Officer Grayson.”_

_“You look so hot in that cop uniform. Brings out your eyes.”_

_“Haha. We can pull out my spare on our next night off.”_

_“Sure thing, hotstuff. I want a kiss.”_

_“Mmm… right, Walls—no, not another one—okay **one** more but only o—heh… Wally! I have to go!”_

_“Be careful, okay?”_

_“Of course. Love you.”_

**xxx**

The phone was ringing.

“In the middle of a semi-disastrous experiment so please hurry up so I can stop being distracted.”

“ _Wally, turn on the news_.”

“Artie, weren’t you listening? I’m busy.”

“ _Turn on the news, West. CNN’s covering it._ ”

Wally was a lot of things, but ‘stupid’ wasn’t on that list, no matter how Artemis claimed otherwise. It was the urgency in her voice that made it click, and he almost forgot not to use his speed as he raced out of the lab and to the lobby where several of his colleagues were already milling around the small TV hung overhead.

Bludhaven news.

“What’s going on.” His growl made half the people in the room jump, but Wally was more focused on gathering the information running through the narrow bar at the bottom of the screen.

_Breaking News: Shooter threatens children at Bludhaven High._

_Three confirmed deaths…_

_Police are trying to negotiate…_

_An officer has volunteered to go in, unarmed, to assess the situation and hopefully stall the shooter…_

_Terms are being settled…_

“An officer has volunteered to go in…” Wally repeated, staring blankly at the ID picture of said officer at the side of the screen. He wanted to laugh. Of course. Who else would it be? Dick was trained in negotiations. It was from being _Robin_ , not _Officer Grayson_ , but his bosses, unfortunately, were _not_ idiots who couldn’t see potential when it was being dangled in front of their noses.

This must be the emergency Dick had rushed out for three hours ago when Wally was still at home, preparing to head out to _his_ day job, ready to leave his boyfriend in bed until the radio interrupted.

“Isn’t Grayson…?” someone started to whisper and was hushed. Wally barely felt the arm around his shoulders.

“Hey, don’t worry, West. Dick’s a badass. He can take that guy.”

_You have no idea._

Even unarmed, no one was a match for Dick. Especially since the cameras couldn’t focus into the school. Out of sight, Nightwing could simply roll out a pill of knockout gas from the belt Wally knew was under the unassuming shirt.

The anchorwoman on the news lit up excitedly.

_“We have a visual!”_

Wally’s heart sank.

There was the gunman.

And there was his boyfriend.

_Not even wearing a **vest** goddammit Dick are you **trying** to get yourself killed?_

The entire lobby watched with baited breath as the snipers got into position. A woman gasped as the shooter realized there were cameras watching them. A hand found Wally’s, squeezing as the man started shouting and Dick tried to calm him down.

They got him, but he got Dick first.

A clear, poorly aimed shot to the thigh that could have severed a vein on its way out— _nodon’tthinklikethatnotyet_ —or it could heal and merely add another scar to the hundreds already decorating his Boy Wonder’s body oh God he wanted to scream to cry but all he could do was sit in his lab smelling coffee and chemicals as he watched Dick Grayson’s life fade away in front of him.

_Stopityoudon’tknowthat._

The call came an hour later, as Wally sat with his cup of water and a few distressed colleagues hovering around him in concern, sharing his silence.

 _“He’ll be fine,”_ were the first words out of Amy’s mouth, and Wally did his best not to fall apart then and there, because he had to say what was most important.

“Tell him I love him.”

**xxx**

_“Who is it this time?”_

_“I don’t even care but I’m pretty sure Luthor teamed up with Grodd again. You’d **think** they’d learn by now.”_

_“Haha, well, take ‘em down. I’m hoping I’ll be done before you.”_

_“Looks like Nightwing won’t be prowling the streets tonight.”_

_“Boo.”_

_“Make sure you come home.”_

_“Goes double for you. Love you, Wally.”_

_“Love you too.”_

_“Bye—wait, what?”_

_“And I’ll love you forever.”_

_“…Shook you up that bad, huh?”_

_“Stop smiling. You’re making me smile too. This isn’t a smiling moment.”_

_“Shoo, Kid Idiot. Hang on I want a kiss first.”_

_“Happy?”_

_“Hmm… might need another go.”_

_“Dork. I don’t even know why I love you so much.”_

_“Me neither.”_

_“I do anyway.”_

_“I know.”_

_“IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou.”_

_“I love you too.”_

**xxx**


End file.
